The National Cotton Council of America’s building at 1918 North Pkwy. has received a new lease on life. The structure once considered for demolition is now a student dorm and awaits a plaque, as the renovated 60-year-old neoclassical building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 1958-built property that sits on 2.8 acres was purchased in 2007 by Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas for $1.65 million, according to the Memphis Business Journal. The initial plan was to tear down the vacant office building and erect the 149-unit Stratum at Overton Park at an estimated cost of $15 to $16 million. Plans were scrapped when the recession hit, and the property was picked up in early 2011 by local entity WR Real Estate Advisors.

The local partnership planned to redevelop the shuttered office building into apartments, targeting student and young professionals. The first phase of the development, at a cost of $5 million, is now not only finished, but furnished, under lease and inhabited. According to The Commercial Appeal, Victory University, formerly known as Crichton College, contacted the developers while work was still months away from finished.

The re-branded university’s enrollment doubled in 2012, creating an urgent need for student housing. Thus Victory University, via Asset Campus Holding, hammered out a three-year lease for all 40 units in the redeveloped multifamily property, creating 120 extra beds for its students. The lease also has an extension option on it. Though the property is four miles from the main Victory campus, a bus shuttles enrollees between classes and the dorm.

The three-story structure’s units vary from studio to two-bedroom apartments, decked out with walk-in closets and fully equipped kitchens and flat-screen TVs. There is also an in-house laundry facility that is no extra cost to lodgers, all of whom have roommates.

Phase two of the project is set to kick off in late 2012 and will see an additional 60 apartment units rise behind the historic building.